Top 3 Reasons Why Riyan Parag is Announced as RR Captain

The 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Rajasthan Royals, have officially named Riyan Parag captain for the upcoming edition of the tournament. It was very surprising to see the team management, which also includes the head coach and former Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara, going with Parag as the skipper when they had options like Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sam Curran.

Star India batter Sanju Samson was leading the franchise till the last season before he was traded to the five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in exchange with two star all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. As Jadjea was brought into the squad, it looked like the management might be seeing him as the leader for the upcoming season; however, the management had something different in their minds.

Top 3 Reasons Why Riyan Parag is Announced as RR Captain

The announcement of Riyan Parag RR Captain made headlines and this sparked question among fans regarding the reason of this captaincy appointment. Here are the top 3 reason:

1. RR Double Down on Their Youth-First Philosophy

Rajasthan Royals have always shown trust in grooming the young players. Players like Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Riyan Parag are the prime examples for that. Even the current young sensation, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, is getting groomed in the RR camp. So, it's one of the reasons why they have opted for Riyan Parag as their skipper, as he has been with the team for a long time and has earned that loyalty.

2. Internal Backing From Management

Apart from Parag's performance and his long stint with the franchise, the young batter also has some internal connections with the higher team management. Riyan Parag's father, Parag Das, is a former cricketer who has represented Assam in domestic cricket. His father is also closely linked to the Rajasthan Royals’ owner Ranjit Barthakur, due to which it's often heard or seen on social media that Riyan Parag is being favoured by the franchise. Barthakur has even said that the decision to choose Guwahati as their second home ground is solely because of Riyan Parag.

3. Sanju Samson Trade Opened the Door

As mentioned above, Samson was traded to CSK, which opened the door for Parag to get the full-time captaincy of one of the best teams in IPL. Interestingly, Parag led the team in most of the matches last season due to Samson's fitness concerns, which indicated that the team are seeing him as future prospect for the captaincy contender.